Potty Training - Who's done? Who's not?

We're ready to start potty training! We've been holding off on really focusing on it because we had a 10hr car trip for the holidays. Now that's behind us and as if she were on cue, we've been getting reports from daycare that she's peeing on the potty several times a day (the room that she's in they always try the potty when they go to change diapers). So this week we're using pull ups at school. We bought underwear. Over the weekend we're going to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate and go cold turkey!

Where is everyone else with it?

If you're done - what are your top 3 suggestions? What worked for you?

Are you using rewards? I can't decide what to do with that. Eventually we'd stop giving them (I've never heard of a 10 year old getting a sticker for peeing on the potty). So I'm just trying to figure out how all of that would work.

Ethan is finally showing some interest in the potty and is going once a day right before, in the middle or right after bathtime. Otherwise he refuses to go the rest of the day! Not quite sure what to do about that! I think there are about 15 kids in his room at daycare (18months to 3 years old) and only one is fully trained, a couple go sometimes and the rest are where Ethan is. Regardless, I'd love to get out of diapers for at least one child!

Sofia knows and tells me when she has to poop but also tells me "no poop on the potty". She refuses to sit on the potty to poop or pee. I have no idea how to get her on it. I think I may have to stick her in underwear and hope she learns.

Vance is fully potty trained, he has been since he turned two in June. We didn't do a reward system never did for any of the three. We let him walk around the house naked, I have heard of Mom's of little girls letting them wear a dress with no undies. We asked him and brought him potty every hour, until he started telling us he had to go, and then he started going alone. We took a 12 hour road trip in July that I thought for sure was going to set us back but he didn't have one accident in the car or while we were away so that is when I knew it was official he didn't need diapers anymore but before that I was too sad to call it since he is my last baby. I always recommend naked time and frequent potty trips to help with potty training. When we started venturing out in undies I would make sure he went potty before we left the house and then look for potty clues like holding himself or doing the peepee dance. Good luck to everyone potty training.

forgot to comment on the rewards question! we are giving the "reward" of doing the "pee pee" dance! LMAO! We dance around in circles and praise him to the nines! when he poops on the toilet I might give him an M&M reward to encourage the poooping!

I would consider us in pretty complete with the "awake" potty training. She still wears a diaper for naptime and bedtime, but even those are lessining in wetness. We started off with having her try every half-hour, then changed that to every hour aafter a couple days, and eventually she just started telling us when she has to go! Its been 4 days now of no accidents :).

She gets 2 skittles every time she goes, 3 if she poops. At daycare, she doesn't do the candy reward, so I just give her 2 skittles for the whole day when we get home. And apparently she doesn't even ask for them there, but at home, immediately after she pees she says "I go wash my hands, then I get 2 skittles". Haha, stinker. I think we'll keep doing this for a couple more days, then I'll start weaning her off by maybe giving her a sticker for everytime she pees, then after so many stickers she'll get her skittles. I don't know, we'll see how it goes.

Isabella is going to be in diapers (or adult diapers) when she goes to college. I kid you not. She refuses to wear big girl panties and screams and cries when I try to get her to sit on the potty. She'll tell me if she's wet. I've decided to stop talking about since she is obviously not ready and try again in a month or so.

Isabella is going to be in diapers (or adult diapers) when she goes to college. I kid you not. She refuses to wear big girl panties and screams and cries when I try to get her to sit on the potty. She'll tell me if she's wet. I've decided to stop talking about since she is obviously not ready and try again in a month or so.

This was us at age 2 on the second day of potty training. We gave up very quickly! Now DS is wanting to go at least at bedtime. I ask other times of day and sometimes he says yes and will sit there at least. sometimes he actually goes!

That's amazing to me. When A's in underwear, we have to take her to the potty every 20-30 minutes or there will be an accident. We have had instances of accidents 10-15 minutes after a successful potty trip. I just can't imagine a 2-year-old being able to hold it for an hour, especially consistently. Or is A just behind here?

She does know when she goes, and she loves wearing underwear rather than diapers, but she has absolutely no desire to tell us when she needs to go (except at night after she's in bed and random times maybe once a month) and she obviously has to go very frequently. It's all very frustrating. We went for 3-4 days the last week in December where she was in underwear all day and had maybe 1 accident a day, but it was really hard work for me and since then she's decided she does not want to go to the potty anymore (which makes it 10x more difficult) and I just don't see an end in sight for us. :annoyed:

We're day trained but not night. She started trying to go to the toilet on her own around 18months of age. She has a speech delay though, which made it hard for her to tell me when we were out if she needed to go. She's a great little actress though (she has to be) and quickly came up with actions that got her point across. As soon as I let her go for it she trained herself (between 22-24 months I guess).

That's amazing to me. When A's in underwear, we have to take her to the potty every 20-30 minutes or there will be an accident. We have had instances of accidents 10-15 minutes after a successful potty trip. I just can't imagine a 2-year-old being able to hold it for an hour, especially consistently. Or is A just behind here?

Every child is different. Vance has really good control though. He can sleep 12 hours and not have an accident. There are times I wake him up to bring his brother and sister to school in the morning and he won't go potty until we come home about an hour after I wake him up, which is crazy to me because I know when I wake up the first thing I have to do is go potty. As exhausting as it is just be consistent and she will catch on when she is ready.

Ethan is finally showing some interest in the potty and is going once a day right before, in the middle or right after bathtime. Otherwise he refuses to go the rest of the day! Not quite sure what to do about that! .... Regardless, I'd love to get out of diapers for at least one child!

So the other day I found Sofia crouching behind the couch pooping. She lets me know when she has to go, she hids when she poops, and she wants me to change her after she goes. And yet she still isnt ready to potty traing cause she cries on the potty. I am beginning to wonder when she is going to actually want to sit on the potty and go.

J is potty trained during the day but still wears a diaper at night. She started to train herself at 17 months but by 2yrs had plateauted ....she knew exactly what she needed to do but would still have accidents every now and then. For my kids, getting past that "trained but still having odd accidents" stage comes with maturity - often it is when they're playing outside or not near a potty and don't have the maturity to get up and leave the toys knowing they will still be there when they come back. Once they get past that hurdle, the accidents seem to stop. We reward with stickers and small treats (jelly beans, m&m's etc). It may seem that they'll be expecting them forever but both my kids got to the point where they would just go and do their business and not race out and tell us straight away to get the reward. J still asks for a reward about 50% of the time....depends on what she's doing at the time and how quickly she wants to get back to playing. I also agree with the comment that it is easiest to train them in warm weather where you can let them run around nude or just in a little pair of undies etc. Less washing for you too if there are accidents! I've never done pull-ups, can't see the point. Oh and I also think the personality of the child plays a role....you can't fight nature so if your child isn't naturally wanting to do it yet then you just have to be patient. My DD1 is a very stubborn personality and didn't like to be "told" to go to the toilet but would do it if it was on "her terms". Both girls were in undies from a young age (DD1 at 22 months and DD2 at 18 months) but I think for this reason, DD1 wasn't consistently dry till pretty much her 3rd b'day whereas DD2 is consistent already. ?Oh and it obviously helps if they have an older sibling they are constantly trying to be like......

forgot to comment on the rewards question! we are giving the "reward" of doing the "pee pee" dance! LMAO! We dance around in circles and praise him to the nines! when he poops on the toilet I might give him an M&M reward to encourage the poooping!

We do the same! I made up an official potty dance. It starts by singing "do the potty dance" then you clap twice, wiggle your bottom and then jump twice. It's so funny.

So I got Sofia to pee on the potty. There was a little crying involved and I feel bad. She woke up dry and I knew she had to pee. So I put her on the potty. She went and I praised her like crazy. Then she peed in her diaper a couple hours later and didnt tell me. We arent completly trying riht now, but at least she knows what to do on the potty now.

Ben's going potty pretty regularly. We whip the dipe off at home and he always goes on the potty. He just says "Go potty!" and he sits himself down and goes. We give him an M&M as a reward after, but never try to lure him to the potty with the promise of a treat.

And for what it's worth, if anyone's worried at all, DD has been fully trained since 2 but is still not dry on a regular basis overnight! She still wears a Pull Up to bed. Her urologist said it's nothing to be concerned about until about age 5 (which is 2 months away!).

I just spent a good amount of time writing a reply and hit the "reply to thread" instead of "post quick reply"....argh!

Lis - Cadi's still in PullUps too, although I *think* she's basically done PTing now. She was dry 1/2 the week in PullUps right at the beginning, switched her to panties, she regressed, and she's taken this long, as in, this last month, to now wake up dry more often than not - but if she pees, its a full bed change. We run out of PullUps in a few days, I'll try panties again then and KYP on how it goes!

As for PTing Laney, she's petrified of PTing, she cries if I even mention the word potty to her. She has no interest in progressing. She is telling me when she's wet/soiled, but not before, and she has yet to wake up dry from a nap or bedtime, so I'm not sure she's quite ready. She sat bare on the little potty the other day (I decided to try her in panties for the morning, see how it went) with much coaxing and a few treats, but refused to actually try. Peed buckets on the floor when I wasn't looking. We've read potty books, Cadi tells her how easy it is, how she loves it, etc, and Laney's watched me tons, but... she's perfectly content in dipes. I guess we'll just keep revisiting it every few months and try to make it look more attractive and inviting for her.

hi, i'd thought i'd drop a note here as well. Isaac was born at the beginning of July and i recognize some of your names.
At any rate, Isaac is fully day time trained and is sometimes night time trained. i say sometimes cause he'll stay dry most of the time but if he's overly tired going to bed or like over Christmas he was wet in the morning.
Every kid has got their own timing, We just started out by putting him up there first thing in the morning, last thing at night and before and after naps.
We use jelly beans for stinkies and high 5's for pee, otherwise he was trying to go pee every 5 seconds just for a jelly bean!

I just spent a good amount of time writing a reply and hit the "reply to thread" instead of "post quick reply"....argh!

Lis - Cadi's still in PullUps too, although I *think* she's basically done PTing now. She was dry 1/2 the week in PullUps right at the beginning, switched her to panties, she regressed, and she's taken this long, as in, this last month, to now wake up dry more often than not - but if she pees, its a full bed change. We run out of PullUps in a few days, I'll try panties again then and KYP on how it goes!

As for PTing Laney, she's petrified of PTing, she cries if I even mention the word potty to her. She has no interest in progressing. She is telling me when she's wet/soiled, but not before, and she has yet to wake up dry from a nap or bedtime, so I'm not sure she's quite ready. She sat bare on the little potty the other day (I decided to try her in panties for the morning, see how it went) with much coaxing and a few treats, but refused to actually try. Peed buckets on the floor when I wasn't looking. We've read potty books, Cadi tells her how easy it is, how she loves it, etc, and Laney's watched me tons, but... she's perfectly content in dipes. I guess we'll just keep revisiting it every few months and try to make it look more attractive and inviting for her.

Lis, I revisited that site that sells the alarms for overnight training/bedwetting. I hesitate to call it bedwetting at this point, but soon enough it WILL be called that if Claire can't stay dry overnight. She sees her urologist next week for a surgical follow up and I'll bring it up with him. I don't think her issues have anything to do with peeing in the night. I think that she just sleeps so deeply (it's like trying to wake the dead in the morning) that she has no idea she's even peeing. A couple nights ago she SOAKED the bed - even the duvet and pillowcase were wet. The alarms are kind of expensive around $100 and up depending on the model you want, but I might have to invest if she's going to continue wetting. I could see that being extremely traumatic for a girl (or boy) during sleepovers. Plus, even though Ben's doing so great with potty training, I think Claire would feel like she was letting us down if Ben's dry overnight and wearing underwear to bed and she's still in a dipe. I can't even put her in a Pull Up at bedtime. She needs a size 6 Pampers. Jeez, do they even make size 7??

I don't think they do make a size 7! What I did for the longest time for Laney was dbl up her size 5 dipes, inner dipe was turned down at the top, and then the outer dipe pulled up high so it could absorb what the inner dipe wouldn't. I just switched her to a 3t-4t EasyUp, and surprisingly, they haven't leaked yet! When Cadi wets the bed it's the same thing...she's just so deeply asleep. She's been dry every night since my first reply btw. I hope you and the urologist can help Claire be more aware of what's going on. Do the CoolAlert type PullUps help at all? They never did much for Cadi.

I don't think they do make a size 7! What I did for the longest time for Laney was dbl up her size 5 dipes, inner dipe was turned down at the top, and then the outer dipe pulled up high so it could absorb what the inner dipe wouldn't. I just switched her to a 3t-4t EasyUp, and surprisingly, they haven't leaked yet! When Cadi wets the bed it's the same thing...she's just so deeply asleep. She's been dry every night since my first reply btw. I hope you and the urologist can help Claire be more aware of what's going on. Do the CoolAlert type PullUps help at all? They never did much for Cadi.

I tried the Easy Ups but Claire would soak them and soak the bed too. A Pampers Baby Dry is the only thing that holds enough pee, and sometimes even that doesn't work! The Pampers Underjams work pretty well - they're VERY thick and absorbent, but they're freakin expensive!

Uh, Ben's already dry through the night. Go figure. He even wore big boy underwear out on a walk the other day and he stayed completely dry the whole time we were out of the house. Although, last night he fell into the toilet, bum first. I don't know why he decided to get up on the toilet without me, but he went to sit down and the potty seat wasn't there. He was soaked up to his middle, but somehow managed to pull himself out. IDK how he did it!

Lol Ben! Laney is terrified of the flushing sound on her Winnie the Pooh potty. I've got it turned off, but she still won't go near it. She IS, however, reading Cadi's potty book daily and telling me that she's going to sit on the "big white potty"...but won't if I suggest it At least I know she's thinking about it and psyching herself up. Yay!

Although we're getting much closer to daytime potty training (yesterday she went from 8am to 6pm without an accident), A wakes up soaking wet every morning. And still, if we don't make her sit down and go every 30 minutes, there's an accident. I think that mostly means that I am trained.

I had bladder issues as a little girl, and can clearly remember both wetting my pants during the day - at school! :oops: - and at night. I remember having dreams that I was running around looking for a bathroom, and when I found one I would sit down and use it... but of course that really meant I was wetting my bed. I had surgery twice to look at my bladder. I think this was before ultrasound was really good, and that was the only way of seeing if I had a problem. The diagnosis was simply a "small bladder". Anyway, I grew out of it... eventually. The last time I wet my pants during the day I was 9, and the last time I wet the bed overnight I was about 11. And I'm so, so afraid I passed my small bladder on to A. I really would hate to have her experience the same humiliation that I did.

Lis, I revisited that site that sells the alarms for overnight training/bedwetting. I hesitate to call it bedwetting at this point, but soon enough it WILL be called that if Claire can't stay dry overnight. She sees her urologist next week for a surgical follow up and I'll bring it up with him. I don't think her issues have anything to do with peeing in the night. I think that she just sleeps so deeply (it's like trying to wake the dead in the morning) that she has no idea she's even peeing. A couple nights ago she SOAKED the bed - even the duvet and pillowcase were wet. The alarms are kind of expensive around $100 and up depending on the model you want, but I might have to invest if she's going to continue wetting. I could see that being extremely traumatic for a girl (or boy) during sleepovers. Plus, even though Ben's doing so great with potty training, I think Claire would feel like she was letting us down if Ben's dry overnight and wearing underwear to bed and she's still in a dipe. I can't even put her in a Pull Up at bedtime. She needs a size 6 Pampers. Jeez, do they even make size 7??

Josh wets the bed most nights. He is turning 4 in April. I think he is very deap sleeper too. I have no idea what I am going to do. He is in a size 5t pull up at night and still wets through it. If they dont have a bigger size I think I am screwed cause the 5ts are tight on him.

Had to share with someone and I knew you would all understand! Ethan POOPED in the potty for the very first time today!!!!! *jumping for joy*! He's getting there - today:

in underwear at 7am
4 false alarms
Peed in the potty at 8:30
put him in a pull up to go to grocery store at 8:45
9:45 - He peed in the pullup because we didn't get home soon enough (right in front of the front door), put him back in underwear
Accident (in the bathroom) at 10:30
3 false alarms
Peed in potty 11:00
Pooped in the potty at 11:30
went down for nap around noon with a pullup on.
2 false alarms between 12 and 1pmijng

The false alarms are driving me nuts, but he must be learning, right? That's pretty good so far I think for his first day trying all morning!

Josh wets the bed most nights. He is turning 4 in April. I think he is very deap sleeper too. I have no idea what I am going to do. He is in a size 5t pull up at night and still wets through it. If they dont have a bigger size I think I am screwed cause the 5ts are tight on him.

They make those Pampers Underjams for boys too. Claire's 5 soon and she weighs 46 pounds. The Underjams are made for older kids so you'll have no trouble finding a size that fits. Josh would probably need the S/M like Claire, which fits 38 to 65 pounds. There's a bigger size too.

Harmony, don't even worry about it! Second kids are easier to train, so I've heard, because big bro or sis kind of leads the way. Claire started training pretty early, but she took a lot longer than Ben to stop having accidents, and she still wets in the night. She also has bladder issues.

I think that Ben's actually done with the training. He stays dry in big boy underwear all day, and has been dry every morning for about 2 weeks.

I think Joey is close to ready but I just don't feel like I know enough to start. What sites or books did you use to prep yourself for potty training?

I didn't read any books, but used a Pee-pee chart that we'd put stickers on every time the kids made it to the potty. I also used M&Ms for rewards (but not as bribery). I found that just taking the dipe off worked best for DS - he felt more naked I suppose and that the "pee pee ready Mommy". He's never once dribbled or had an accident on the floor, but DD had quite a few. If you take the dipe off be prepared for the occasional accident and more laundry.

If you're finding that it's a ton of work and that Joey isn't as keen as you initially thought, probably best to lay off for a while. A kid who's really ready should not be too difficult to train. Pushing too hard can backfire in your face. This seems to be about the age when some moms and dads start to feel pressure from friends/relatives/us! to start training whether or not their LO seems ready. If Joey's interested, then he's probably ready. Tons and tons and tons of praise (like, go overboard with the praise) is what motivated my kids the most. They just wanted to make DH and I happy.

I think Joey is close to ready but I just don't feel like I know enough to start. What sites or books did you use to prep yourself for potty training?

I agree with Lisa. either naked or underwear is the fastest to learn. I find underwear much easier to clean up with a boy becuase it ends up in a puddle instead of being sprayed everywhere...sorry TMI! We tried when Ethan turned 2 years old and it was a disaster. As of today we are on day 5 and he went all day without an accident!!!! We did a "potty dance" to show how proud we were when he went on the potty. Sometimes I'd give an M&M as a reward, but not every time. Mostly for us we just explained that we didn't want to get his AWESOME (ie: cars, trucks, Lighting McQueen, Spiderman) underwear wet with pee and that we needed to go to the potty. I just periodically remind him of this and he does great. Good luck!

I have a question for the BTDT moms with older boys. When did you start teaching them to pee standing up? Did DH do the teaching? Thing is, Ben seems ready for this (he's a really good aimer!) but DH doesn't pee standing up - he sits. I'm kind of glad he sits because there's no pee to clean up, but should it be ME teaching Ben to stand up and pee? Seems weird.

I have a question for the BTDT moms with older boys. When did you start teaching them to pee standing up? Did DH do the teaching? Thing is, Ben seems ready for this (he's a really good aimer!) but DH doesn't pee standing up - he sits. I'm kind of glad he sits because there's no pee to clean up, but should it be ME teaching Ben to stand up and pee? Seems weird.

too funny! You can always wait to introduce when he goes to preschool or even kindergarten when he sees other little boys standing up. DS is peeing both ways right now, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting. He learned to stand from both Daddy and the other boys in his daycare. Or ask your DH to demonstrate a couple times?

The twins are only recently fully (24hrs) potty trained, and they will be 4 soon. They still have occasional accidents, mostly over night.

Ana is day time potty trained. She occasionally has accidents but it's in the bathroom where she just didn't get her pants off fast enough. Some nights she's dry, most nights she's wet. I can say it's been months since I had to clean up poop, and that is SO AWESOME.

I didn't do a reward system with the twins until this past November. Then every day they woke up dry they got a sticker on the calendar. They liked it and tried to get stickers. Now that they are rarely wet they forget about the calendar more days then they remember.

Ana was VERY hard to potty train. I started after she was 2, and gave up at least 3 times. In November she was down to roughly one wet accident a day, but still refusing to poop on the potty. She'd run and hide to do it which is just maddening. If you can run to the laundry room you can run to the bathroom. When the twins got their sticker calendar Ana got to use it too. She got a sticker every time she pooped in the potty... but seemed to care less.

For Christmas she got real panties, with My Little Pony on them (instead of training pants). That was the biggest motivator. She did NOT want to poop on Twilight Sparkle. LOL, if I had known that trick she would have gotten them much sooner.

I started awhile ago but it fizzled out. Leah will go potty before the tub and before bed, that's it. She wears pull ups and sometimes panties on top of the pull ups. I want to tackle one thing at a time so as soon as I get her sleeping in her room again, we'll have to start for real.

Hey gals. If you're pining away for your LO to be pt-ed, be careful what you wish for. I have gone from night of relatively good sleep to getting up every few hours. Ben refuses to pee in a pull up, so he calls for me: "Mommy, go pee pee ready." This has turned into a habit for him so now he's waking all through the night, even if he doesn't have to pee. I am a zombie.